


Sky and Dusty Rose

by 51PegasiB



Category: Leverage, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Other, Suit Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 11:32:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19375873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/51PegasiB/pseuds/51PegasiB
Summary: When you're suit shopping in NYC you never know who you'll bump into.





	Sky and Dusty Rose

**Author's Note:**

> A piece of self-indulgent fluff I wrote for nientezero <3.

Eliot trailed Hardison into the suit shop radiating hostility.

"Why are you making me do this?"

"Because Parker won't and somebody has to."

"No. They don't."

"You need a suit."

"I have like three suits."

"You need a new suit."

"DAMMIT, Hardison."

"You can damn me all you want. You're gonna drag your ass in here and you're gonna get a designer suit and you're going to get it in a color besides black."

"I like black," Eliot muttered.

"Preferably one of the colors she picked out."

"She picked pink and blue, Hardison." Eliot gave a withering look.

"Dusty rose and sky," Hardison corrected.

"Pink. And blue. Like we're a goddamned baby shower."

"It's what she picked."

"She thinks she's going to be able to get a dress that shifts back and forth like the one the fairy godmothers keep magicking in Cinderella."

"I've got a projector and a tracking program, it'll be pretty close."

"Hardison!" He protested.

I think it's pretty. Do you realize how rarely she picks pretty for herself?"

Eliot sighed. He did realize that. It was how he'd gotten sucked in this far.

"You said you didn't care about any of this," Hardison said. "Why is this now a sticking point?"

Eliot sighed and stared at his own boots for a long breath in.

He looked up at Alec. "I'm not wearing pink."

Hardison smiled at him. "Let's just see what they've got and try a few."

They walked out of the entry into the long, narrow room full of bolts of fabric, mirrors and racks overflowing with menswear. Eliot had had no idea that Hardison got all his suits in the off season in big cities till Alec had dragged him to New York the day before.

_'There's no fashion scene like it,'_ Hardison had insisted.

Eliot had rolled his eyes, but he hadn't protested, until the color thing had come up for discussion over breakfast.

Hardison waved him vaguely at a rack full of blue suits and took off for the other corner of the shop, falling into easy conversation with an elderly black man who probably worked here, given his flawless three-piece.

Eliot started flipping through the suits and picked out a navy one, knowing that wasn't what he was supposed to be getting. He sighed. He found some lighter blues and stuck them behind the navy one for some kind of internal plausible deniability and shuffled off towards the dressing room.

The room was impeccably clean and obviously very old. The little benches inside each cubicle were well-worn red velveteen, and matched the equally aged curtains of each one. He hung up his suits and found one that was as close to sky as he had found on the rack and heaved the jacket onto himself.

"Damn it," he said when the sleeves came down over his hands.

"Trouble?" a pleasant baritone asked him from the other side of the cube wall.

"I don't need help. Thank you," he said.

"Sounds like you do, fella."

"Well, I never said I do."

"All right then. I'll mind my own business, I guess." The voice moved to the tiny hallway outside the curtain and sighed. "Damn it," the voice said.

"Trouble?" Eliot asked him, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Okay, wise guy. Why don't you take a look and you tell me."

Eliot poked his head out to see a tall, built blonde guy in a suit obviously too small for him. It was in a similar shade to the one Eliot had on himself. He couldn't help chortling at him.

"Oh, thanks, Pal. Thanks. Not like you're doing much better, there."

Eliot looked down and then back at mister built and blond. "At least I could button mine."

The man snorted and started trying to shrug out of the too-tight jacket. It immediately got stuck on his shoulders and Eliot smirked but stepped out to lend him a hand.

"What made you even try that on?" Eliot asked him.

"Sales guy started being polite to me and I panicked."

Eliot laughed. "You know that's their whole job, right?"

"Yeah. I do. I just...This is not how I usually dress."

Eliot shot him a look. "Gee," he said, dripping with sarcasm. "You're kidding."

The other guy laughed out loud and smacked him on the shoulder in a friendly way. "Yeah, well, I just...I have one real suit and it's black and I'm pretty comfortable with that, to be honest."

"Me too," he said.

"So why the," Blondy gestured to Eliot's light jacket.

"It's...an event."

"Me too," he said. "I have to go to a baby shower."

Eliot gave him a quizzical look.

"A *society* baby shower. With a theme."

"Ah. What's the theme?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Bet you I would," he countered.

"Casino Royale," he said. "High rolling blackjack and craps and roulette and whatever else...all in pastels. It's ridiculous."

Eliot laughed. "I don't know. Sounds like it has the potential for fun."

"There's going to be an **open bar**. At a **baby shower**. The guest of honor can't even drink for another couplea months."

Eliot considered this. "Huh. Society folks are weird."

"You know some?"

"Kind of. I was in a bachelor auction once. For a good cause, but...yeah. Weird." Eliot had finally helped Blondy wrangle his jacket back off. He slipped out of his own and handed it over. "Swap?"

"Oh, hey. Yeah. Might work." The other guy slipped into his cube and handed the trousers over as well.

Eliot did the same. Blondy's suit was a much better fit. He slipped into it with ease. It'd probably fit like a dream with just a little tailoring. He sighed. Not that he'd feel comfortable in it even if it was like a glove.

He stepped back out just as Mr. Blond did the same.

"Hey! Looking sharp," Blondy said, brushing Eliot's lapel.

Eliot rolled his eyes. "I don't know about that."

"Trust me. I'm an artist. It's a good color for you."

Eliot had to admit it was a pretty good one on Blond guy, too. He looked like some kind of business angel with the blond hair, the blue eyes and the suit that was now only tight through the shoulders.

"You look all right yourself."

Blondy shrugged. "I feel ridiculous."

"Well, it *is* a very distinctive color," Eliot agreed.

"Guess I better go see Mr. White for the whole fitting. They do tailoring right here, you know. I guess it's old-fashioned."

"That don't make it bad."

"Guess it doesn't. Good luck at your...event."

"Good luck at baby shower blackjack," Eliot responded.

Blondy slid out of the dressing area as Hardison was sliding in with some pink suits and one medium blue one. He stared after the blond guy like he'd been frozen by one of his comic characters.

He whipped his head around to Eliot. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, poor sap has to get the same color as me," Eliot grunted.

"Do you have any idea who that was?"

Eliot shrugged. "Some kind of new money guy?"

Hardison pinned him with a stare. "What makes you say that?"

"He was complaining about this society 'do he has to go to. Didn't seem to comfortable with the idea."

"Oh, my god. What was it?"

"A baby shower, he said."

"Oh, my god," Hardison repeated. "I wonder if we can get an invite to..." he sighed. "Probably not. He might be able to out-code me."

"That guy?" Eliot snorted. "That guy seems like he couldn't code his way out of a paper bag."

"NO. Not that guy. The guy throwing the baby shower," said Hardison. He was peering out the dressing room door and trying to look like he was doing no such thing.

"How do you know whose baby shower he's going to?"

Hardison gave Eliot one of those looks that drove Eliot insane. "What? What am I missing?"

"You know, if you ever watched anything that wasn't rodeo or UFC..."

"Hardison!" he growled.

"Here," said Hardison. He thrust the blue suit he'd been carrying at Eliot.

Eliot just looked at it. "That isn't....'sky'," he said.

"I had a thought. You wear dark blue suit, sky blue shirt. I wear pale pink suit, dark pink shirt. We look like we planned it."

Eliot looked up at him. "Oh my god. That's...I could kiss you right now."

"What's stopping you?" Hardison asked with a grin. He leaned in as Eliot tilted up to meet him and they kissed briefly.

"I'm gonna get into this," said Eliot, taking the suit from Alec, feeling a little shy about having kissed him in almost-public. Even though no one had seen and probably no one would even care.

He quickly got into the blue suit. It was brighter than he would have liked, but compared to the pastel from earlier, it was a palpable relief. He and Hardison each went to see Mr. White for their tailoring consultation and the old gentleman helped them choose shirts and accessories.

Hardison went back into the dressing room to try on more suits, even though he already had two closets full of clothes. Plus, Eliot suspected, a storage space or two with character clothes.

"Might as well pick some up while I'm here," Hardison had responded.

Eliot sighed and sat down in the chair outside the dressing room. He was there when Mr. Blonde came out and put a garment back on the "tailoring" rack.

"Find one?" he asked Eliot.

"Yeah. You all set?"

"Yeah," Blondy seemed to consider a moment, then stuck out his hand. "I'm Steve, by the way."

"Eliot," said Eliot, shaking hands. He didn't always give his real name to random strangers, but he really didn't want to ever run a con on this guy, somehow. So hopefully the fact that he did wouldn't ever be a problem.

"You never told me what your event was."

"Wedding," Eliot said with sort of a shrug.

"Ah. You in the wedding party?" Steve asked, with sympathy.

"Guess you could say that," Eliot admitted.

"He's one of the grooms," said Hardison, from the entry to the dressing room.

Steve nodded, taking this in stride. "Are you the other one?" he offered his hand to Hardison to shake. "Congratulations to you both!" he said when Hardison nodded.

"There's a bride, too...actually," said Hardison.

Steve almost looked startled at that. He rose several points in Eliot's snap judgement when all he said was. "Congratulations to all three of you then." He gave them a genuine smile.

Steve went out and Hardison stared after him, looking starstruck.

"Look, I know that guy has a nice ass, but come on."

"You really didn't know who that was, did you?" Hardison asked.

"Said his name was Steve," Eliot shrugged.

"Yeah. It is. I'll explain it to you over lunch."

"We're leaving?"

"Yeah. I'm done," Hardison said. "For now."

As they were walking out, Hardison surreptitiously squeezed his hand. "You know your ass is nice, too, right?"

"Dammit, Hardison. You don't have to talk about that here."

"Just saying. Don't want you to get a complex about me checking out Captain America."

"I don't have a ...wait, checking out WHO?"

Hardison laughed at him and strode down the street. "Come on. I know a place that does gourmet barbecue in Brooklyn."

"Hardison! There's no way there's good barbecue in this town. Hardison. That wasn't really...dammit! Wait for me."

Alec laughed again, but he waited till Eliot caught up and then dragged him towards the C train.


End file.
